Production Chain in the Car Industry and CSR

The global car industry in general and the US car industry, in particular, have been experiencing a substantial shift in strategy and policy related issues with the ever-increasing emphasis on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) both within and without the organization (Garriga amp. Melé, 2004). Globalization has invariably impacted the industry to such an extent that the current level of operations and the related outcomes have been determined by a set of endogenous and exogenous variables that require a well-focused analysis. Globalization has come into still sharper focus on account of the current global economic downturn. The global car manufacturing industry and its production chain have invariably been influenced in the process (Hughes, Wrigley amp. Buttle, 2008). Production chain can be described by using an iron ore mine as an example – the production chain is the actual mining of the material, crushing and screening, beneficiation, logistics, stockpile management, ship loading, etc. Essentially, the production chain consists of every activity that contributes to turning the raw material into the end product of saleable iron ore (www.optika.com.au). Next phases include making steel sheets and iron bars which go in turn into the production of a car. However, how many firms in how many countries were involved in the production of a car can never be known by even the buyer. All car manufacturers in the world use some imported spares in their ultimate products (Meyer, 2000). Similarly, in the supply chain process of selling and buying a lot of services – banking, finance, insurance, freight, shipping, wholesale and retailing – are involved. This illustrates the extent of globalization in the modern production chain process (Barrientos, 2000).